We had a nice one with a web that spanned from a window box to a nearby shutter for several years. I noticed her dead in the web several months ago. But now we have this one. She has made a home around and in a hollow log. The log is under a deep overhang where I store "bouquets" of seed to dry. The web extends to a nearby chair and everybody has been instructed to not move the chair. Maybe for a couple of years.
I remember seeing those when we were in Georgia. They creep me out. So it will stick around for a long time?
Nice photos. We have the Funnel Weaver here. Spiders (except for the poisonous ones) are extremely beneficial.
Sunkissed, I read they can live three or four years. Insects don't usually creep me out but I am a South Florida native so that may be why. :)
C_G, even spiders whose venom is toxic to humans are beneficial. I'm careful to wear gloves around the woodpile because the brown recluse makes its home there. We have a fair number of black widows too. I was pretty surprised to see an Australian redback, a widow import, in the same windowbox the first funnel weaver made its home since this house is in a rural area. What's very rare up there is any roach species; not in the garden, the sheds, garbage, compost, house...nada.
Yes, that's true. It just didn't come out the way I meant it to.
I get it. I'm usually the one in our household called upon to remove creepy crawlers and varmints. Scorpions in the sinks, rat snakes in the living room, possums in the basement and even a squirrel that fell down the chimmney, made a nest and had babies on my pillow. There's been birds, bats and a swarm of honeybees that found a way in, instead of out, from the masonry chimmney...a wide array of wildlife has found its way into the cottage at Maypop.
I had a funnel weaver in the kitchen recently that I told no one about. I found it when sweeping and gingerly went around it. It was near where we stand to do dishes and I wonder if the activity scared it away. The next day, I bent over to say, "hello" and it was gone. :(
Today, one of the children got a little freaky about a spider because it was near his desk. Maybe it was about two inches, this includes legs. I took pictures and caught it to take outside.
MaypopLaurel, you sure get a lot of visitors. :)
So after a few years the funnel spider could become like a pet. LOL.
Most the spiders in my garden are pretty small and don't bother me at all, but occasionally a wolf spider will wander into our house...I can't sleep until my husband or son capture it and toss it back outside. ☺
Here is some shots I took of our very abundant large Banana spiders, and if you're a FL native you know what I'm talking about. I've run into these many times while bike riding in the woods.
That is indeed a large spider, sunkissed. And a beautiful one.
Speedie, we have a lot of visitors though those are not the preferred ones. :) Could your funnel weaver have taken up a nearby new residence? We've had many wolf spiders indoors but only outdoor funnel weavers.
Sunkissed, "like a pet" describes the first one. I had a Charlotte's Web moment when I saw her splayed out at the opening of her funnel with legs falling off. Really had a pang of sadness while curious as to the cause of her end.
I'm pretty compulsive about the houses but make room for spiders or relocate (the spiders that is). The cleaners are advised to work around them or call me. Even if it's a common house spider. To that end my SO and I foster a baby house spider by the walls of our sink corners each year. It's a bit of a competition. Each year I learn something new from that spider. There's a baby in my corner now and I was telling SO how it found a bit of lint from the nearby tissue box to attach to its web. Now it hides behind that bit awaiting an opportunity. This baby is maybe 1/8" and programmed to be so stealthy!
